Posted on 08/22/2014 8:19:28 AM PDT by Second Amendment First
It was quite a spectacle. In November 2013, the Rocky Mountain Arsenal Wildlife Refuge in Commerce City had an enormous, spiky display of tons and tons of elephant tusks and ornately carved ivory icons and knickknacks.
Some were aged and discolored; others gleamed exquisitely, fit for long-ago king.
Then, the feds smashed the whole pile — six tons in total — into bits.
From the tusks to the trinkets, the ivory had been seized over the past two decades by U.S. customs and other authorities and piled up here in Colorado. The pulverizing of the stockpile was to draw attention to the illegal trade of elephant tusks, and to signal that America was taking the ivory business more seriously.
The estimated $10 billion worldwide ivory market is a wildlife disaster, with the brutal slaughter of tens of thousands of endangered elephants and rhinos each year. The money generated from such activity is linked to human trafficking, illicit arms deals and terrorism.
The event was not without its controversy: Some thought it to be wasteful, since the relics were from animals that had already been killed, some a long time ago. Others claimed that putting the items back into the market would dilute the value of new ivory and relax the demand for more criminal slaughter.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailycamera.com ...
Didn’t the Taliban destroy historic relics? How is the US government any different?
Good point.
So, what am I to do with the beautiful, carved ivory tusk my folks brought back from overseas? It was purchased in 1961. Am I a criminal now for owning that? Should I just commit suicide? Or, should I make sure when I commit suicide I take a lot of Obama’s sons with me? Or should I do it in a mosque full of Muslims? I want to make sure my death for owning ivory serves a real purpose. Suggestions?
Did the paper say the tides should stop too?
Even King Canute only did that to prove he was not powerful enough to stop them.
Agree .... Critters get old, herds must be culled etc ... sell the ivory and donate part of proceeds to conservation efforts.
My opinion..
Cover it in eagle feathers and set it on fire as a sacrifice to the Great Obama.
Stupid Gubment has no idea of the concept of “Supply and Demand.” Waiting for the next Headline...”Ivory prices skyrockets in illegal markets.
That was a really dumb idea.
But I’m sure it gave them a warm feeling of superiority to destroy all that ivory.
Could raise money by selling lottery tickets for the tusks of those that die naturally. Use the proceeds as you say for serious conservation efforts. Could use the commercial activity to help civilize the area.
Is it any different than what we do to animals for meat? There's a good reason that cows aren't extinct.
If you don’t have some kind of documentation to prove it was obtained legally, it could be a real problem. It would be worthless as far as trying to sell it, but if you just want to pass it on as a family heirloom, it would be best to keep mum about it.
There’s a good reason that cows aren’t extinct.
There’s a good reason that pigs aren’t extinct.
There’s a good reason that mink aren’t extinct.
But PETA doesn’t like that.
It sounds like you’d be okay. Hopefully you have original receipts.
http://www.fws.gov/international/travel-and-trade/ivory-ban-questions-and-answers.html
Thus what I believe to be the whole anti-Christian roots of the so-called Animal Rights Movement. They want to deny the fact that Man has dominion over the animals.
I think their basic supposition is that man is evil.
And that man should be extinct.
Of course they never put their money where their mouth is. (Or should I say a gun where their mouth is)
I call it the PETA Paradox. They want us to behave differently from animals because they believe we’re no different from animals. Huh???
If we’re just another animal, why WOULDN’T we eat them and so on? Why would we have to apologize because we’re better at it than the “other animals”?
That’s because the Animal Rights movement has nothing to do with animals, it’s about destroying Western Civilization.
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